I had some unexpected free time on Saturday and some leftovers in my fridge. So some smoked beef brisket plus smoked chicken breast plus a new BGE Dutch oven pointed to a soup or stew of some kind. There was a recipe in the BGE Cookbook called Barbecue Chicken Soup that said you could use smoked chicken or beef brisket and I had both. This reminded me of a Brunswick stew and indeed the recipe mentioned it was a cross between chicken soup and a Brunswick stew. To go along with the stew what is better than biscuits? I found a recipe for Buttermilk biscuits in the BGE Cookbook. Before I switch over to the pictures of what turned out to be an excellent stew, there were two not so great things that happened.

The first was the dough for the buttermilk biscuits, which I had difficulty with. I felt the dough was way too sticky and moist, but having never made a buttermilk biscuit before I couldn’t say for sure. As it turned out I was right. The dough didn’t rise as much as it should have and spread out more in the horizontal direction than normal. Though the biscuits didn’t rise as planned they were still very tasty, moist and had a nice buttery flavor. So another way of saying: They weren’t so pretty, but they ate great!

The second item involved my finding an answer to a question I didn’t necessarily want answered. Watching some videos of the potential flashbacks you can get on the BGE when using high heat when a rush of oxygen gets into the grill. To combat that, you always “burp” the grill by lifting the lid an inch or so before lifting it completely. What I wondered was whether I would be brave (or perhaps stupid) enough to not drop the lid if I was faced with a flashback. To my surprise I got a flashback after the soup had been cooking for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. I thought I burped the lid enough, but no. To my surprise I was brave (or stupid) enough to hold on even though I had time to drop it and pull my hand back. For my troubles I have no hair on the back of my hand and going a foot up my arm. Let me just say I will be more careful about how I burp the grill.

I have a question for the local eggheads-others can skip down to the pictures. The BGE Cookbook said to install the Platesetter legs up and put the pyrex dish right on the Platesetter. If I hadn’t read that I would have put my s/s grate on top of the Platesetter legs and put the dish on the grate. It seemed to me it would not brown the bottom of the biscuits as fast. Curious how you guys might have set this up?

Here is the dough which seemed too sticky and too wet. I had no prior frame of reference to go by and the recipe said not to handle the dough too much or it would get tough. So I moved forward as is.

The dough was too sticky to use a cookie cutter, so I hand formed the biscuits.

The biscuits are done after 20 minutes at 450 degrees. I questioned the placement of the baking dish right as described by the recipe. It seemed to me the way to do this might have been to set the s/s grill grate on top of the legs to the Platesetter and put the dish on top pf the grate.

On to the soup/stew. One of the ingredients was a basic BBQ rub which used ground cloves, two whole teaspoons of cayenne pepper, celery seed, garlic powder, paprika, light brown sugar and salt. I was amazed how much cayenne was used. Most recipes call for a small fraction of a teaspoon. This one used 2 tsp!!

The chicken stock, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, & brown sugar were added next. The cover is left off the Dutch oven, but the Egg is covered and these ingredients cook for 30 minutes.

The soup is off the Egg and back inside. The next step is to use an immersion blender to puree the stew..

The soup is now pureed and the remaining ingredients are added.

The beef, chicken, grilled tomatoes, lima beans and corn have been added.

The stew is in the tourine and the biscuits are served. The reserved bacon is in small dishes and will be used to top the bowls of stew.

The biscuits weren’t s pretty as they might of been, but they were tasty and moist with a great buttery flavor.

The stew will get topped with the reserved bacon and the moment I’ve been waiting hours for will finally be here.

All I can say is wow!! This soup was an explosion of flavors-half of which I didn’t recognize. They all went well together. The stew was a bit time consuming to make but was worth every minute of the time and then some!!

Jim, what a magnificent and complex compilation of ingredients, and you outdid yourself on the final result. The coloring of that stew and the visual depth of richness look irresistible! I actually really like the appearance of your biscuits. They impress me with a "down home" quality. Together, the stew and biscuits look like really fine comfort food. And BTW, I can relate to you on your experience with the biscuits. Just so you know you have company.

Great looking grub, Jim! Now that you've singed (sp?) all your arm hairs, you are now an official Egghead!!!

You are right about the placement of the grill grate. I think it gives better air circulation for baking. I would imagine that baking directly on the platesetter like that would give you a crispy bottom to whatever you're baking. Personally, I like to bake things like I do with my pizzas....platesetter legs down, with the little green feet elevating whatever dish it is that I'm using for baking. Works well for me. I recall you mentioning that your Egg didn't come with the feet. If I were you, I'd call your dealer up to see if you can get them...Can't hurt to have them on hand!

Again, that's some great looking stew and biscuits. Has me looking forward to Winter!

Dyal_SC:I'm glad you're calling me an Egghead and not a stupid head. I sure felt like a stupid head when I got the flashback. I mean I was pretty sure I had burped the grill, I guess just not for long enough of a time. But it sounds like I'm not alone, which makes we feel better. Actually I think you were my inspiration. That picture of your shattered grill lid sitting on the ground flashed through my mind as I was trying to decide whether I was going to let go of the top lid or not.

... and looks like something to put on the Egg on the weekend during football season!

Thanks Eddie. Just be sure to leave yourself about 2 1/2 hours. There is actually more time hunting and gathering for ingredients with that recipe than there was actual cooking time. There is a lot of ingredients, but a lot of flavor so what is well worth it. Also FYI: that time is for the stew only, I wasn't counting the rolls.

...I would have set it up the same way Dying mentioned. You can't always follow the BGE cookbook instructions. Like never shut the top and bottom vent and allow your food to keep cooking on the grill.

Setting that pan directly on the Platesetter just didn't seem right. It would be one thing if I was going for an artisan type bread with a really crispy crust, but I wasn't. Part of my problem is I don't know enough yet to know what I don't know-if that makes any sense. Also, other than when I was 10 and I "helped" my father on his brazier-style charcoal grill, I have never direct grilled with charcoal. So I sort of have a double learning curve-learning direct charcoal grilling and learning the different wrinkles doing it on the Egg ads to the equation. Thanks to the good folks here, and some of the posts on the Egghead forums I'm gradually coming up to speed. Plus the precision temperature control on the Egg makes any indirect grilling tasks very easy.

Griffin wrote:

As for flashbacks, they happen. And they'll happen again. Be extra careful if you have recently adjusted either the top or bottom vent closed. Extra air will cause your starving coal to flash at you.

Thanks for the advice. I think my cause was related to what you're talking about. The egg was cooking at 450° for a half hour with the lid closed and the lower vent open 1/2 inch and daisywheel open a crack. The flashback happened when I opened the lid to take the stew off. I'm not so sure I like the part about flashbacks happening again. I was being very religious about burping the grill. I even burped it when I was doing 225° low and slow. I just figured it never hurts to burp it, and I'll just do it every time so I don't ever forget. It just becomes muscle memory. I shall have to open it up to 1" for a longer time.